Absolute Green Lantern: Rebirth [Hardcover]

Let's get the obvious out of the way first. The presentation of the book is beautiful. There is a new drawing in the slipcase made by Ethan Van Sciver, the material in which the book is made is pretty cool and nice to the touch. All in all this is a book that is pretty on the sight.

Why I give it one star?. Because is the THINEST Absolute Edition ever. I received mine yesterday and it makes me wanna cry because of how small it is!. I can't beleive it cost $75 retail price. I mean, this little book only have 224 pages, for Christ sake. It looks like a kid's bed-time story. The extras are a JOKE, a slap in the face. You can see a couple of Thumbnails of the outline here on Amazon. That's pretty much it!!. There is the script of chapter one (that is a perfect transcription of what you already saw in the first issue) and a few other pages with sketches, but NO COMMENTS on the drawings.

There is also the two stories included: "Flight" and "Green Lantern #1", which can both be found in the trade Green Lantern: No Fear. Fist of all, "Green Lantern #1" is waaaaay incomplete!. They didn't include the whole chapter but only 2 or 3 pages from it. "Flight", by Darwyn Cooke is just fantastic. That little porcion of the book looks even better than Rebirth itself.

Ethan Van Sciver's art wasn't made to be enlarge. I used to dig the drawing of Kyle Ryner's first appearance in Rebirth when he say "Don't be afraid", but on this edition the big pages just let you know that Van Sciver dont worry to even make a decent background. Only the characters matter, and even those doesn't look that great.

The reason why I got this was because I though they will be releasing Absolute Sinestro Corps War too, and that will make a cool collection if I got both of them. well, the thing is:

1: There is not even rumors yet for Sinestro Corps War will get Absolute treatment.
2: Even if SCW is launched to the market, Absolute Rebirth wasn't made as part of a collection but a stand alone Absolute volume.

I agree that Rebirth is pretty special because is Hal Jordan (the original Silver Age Green Lantern) big come back, and because is the start of something far cooler, which is Blackest Night, but be honest the story is not as good in terms of hard action nor epic moments nor art. Is just a decent story. That's it. If DC would launch instead a Deluxe Edition of this same book with the same content on a reasonable price, I would say it worth every penny. Absolute Edition was definably not the right way to go.

If you check well, DC also launch a new print of Green Lantern: Rebirth in paperback format. This book have 192 pages, have several extras, and it cost only $10.19. Only 32 pages less thank the Absolute, and I garantee that only "Flight" and the scrip for chapter 1 (that you don't need)is what's lacking. The script doesn't really help you to unravel anything nor adds something particulary good.

This is what is called "Market Experiment". You launch a mediocre product to the market with good publicity. If it sells the company will feel confortable making more products of its kind. If it doesn't sell, they will start considering making better things, or at least they will have to think in better aproach. MEANING: If this becomes a best seller or something like it we are giving the door open to DC suits to keep selling hardcovers of 100 pages for $20 (with Amazon discount). I mean, what's next?... ABSOLUTE KILLING JOKE (with 100 pages at $75 retail price)?!!. GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!. Don't be a fool (like me) and save your money for something worthy like Blackest Night.

Something I would pay more money for would be:

ABSOLUTE BATMAN: DARK VICTORY
ABSOLUTE GREEN LANTERN: SINESTRO CORPS WAR
**ABSOLUTE IDENTITY CRISIS**
ABSOLUTE INFINITE CRISIS
SUPERMAN: NEW KRYPTON 1 (Vol.1 and 2)==> 336 pages
SUPERMAN: NEW KRYPTON 2 (Vol.3 and 4)==> 336 pages

You think I'm wrong?. Please leave your opinion so we can discuss it.

UPDATE 02/16/2011
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Just as I predicted. DC has done it again. I found news that made me (almost) scream of happines. I was so exited:

ABSOLUTE IDENTITY CRISIS HC --- OCTOBER 12th

I was full of joy until... Until I read the rest: "288 pg, FC, 8.25" x 12.5", $99.99 US"

You GOT to be kidding me!!!!!. They Absolute a book that deserved (in my opinion) to be Absoluted but they didn't put any extras on it... and they'll charge $100 for it??. C'mon!!!!!!. Both the Sofcover and HC edition have 288 pages, so I guess they'll take something out to include other stuff. I dunno.

I TOLD YOU ALL!!!!! MARKET EXPERIMENT!!!!!

Beign a big Green Lantern fan (but mostly a HUGE Siniestro fan since the Gardner Fox days) I really loved this mini series and after getting the softcover edition of Rebirth I went back and hunted down the original mini series and waited breathleassly for a new hardcover edition (since I missed the original print). When the Absolute version was anounced I was estatic and figured that since most of the editions I owned ranged from $75 dollars for a 12 issue series (like the magnificent Absolute Long Halloween and Absolute Hush) to $100 for plus 13 issues (like Absolute Sandman) this would probably be priced at $50, and with Amazon's discount it might be somehting along the line of $38 so that price range was just about right for me. A friend of mine ordered his copy right away and we got it this week. The story itself really goes to another level with the bigger presentation, and Van Sciver's art really is the perfect mariage with Johns' story, but I'm guessing anybody interested in putting down $50 for this might be familiar with the story presented here, so I'll skip straight to why should someone go for this expesive edition istead of a perfectly servicable $10 softcover; the presentation. I have to say that that's about the only thing this edition has going for itself; the "bonus" materials are ok but they dont really add anything all that great to the book itself, plus everything here has been released before.
In the end if DC had come out with just an oversized version of the story like the hardcover editions I recently bought (Whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow & Killing Joke) with that price range ($25) I would have bought it in a second but for the kind of price range they are asking for this book I rather hunt down the original Hardcover; at least that edition is a really sought after collectible.
Too bad DC wants to give us the shaft with their recent hardcover editions; they started out pretty strong but now they think that somehow the "deluxe" market means that we are some poor sucker willing to pay for unreasonable prices. Check out the Preacher hardcover; $40 for 6 issues for a "niche" audience...plus their new $4 price range for single issues, and they wonder why the Comic book market is dying out

Green Lantern Rebirth is, as most know, the story that brought Hal Jordan back as the amazing Green Lantern we all remembered him to be. The story in question is great. If you like the Green Lantern, you will probably enjoy this. The story, however, has already been brilliantly reviewed by many so it isn't my focus here. The quality of the book is though, and let me just say, is dazzling. It's very large and the art looks fantastic. The Slipcase is very well done and it even comes with a dust jacket. I feel that I got my moneys worth for every single penny with this book, and I would have even been willing to have payed more for it.

If you have the money to spare, and you really want a definitive edition of a great story, check this out.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 6 reviews  4.0 out of 5 stars